By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Humboldt Elementary School could soon see new life.
At least, there is consideration of resurrecting the old school in the north end as housing.
St. Joseph City Manager Bryan Carter says two developers have floated the idea of rehabilitating the old school building into a housing unit for around 40 workers.
“One piece of that puzzle is rehabbing that school for that, but then they also plan to build townhomes in an open space behind the school that could then be, actually in the long-term, converted to ownership,” Carter tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.
In conjunction, the newly-formed Housing Improvement Initiative is working to purchase and rehabilitate older houses in the area. The group hopes to get families that have been renting into property they can own.
Carter says the initiative will be working with families that have always rented.
“They haven’t historically been homeowners,” according to Carter. “So, they just haven’t explored what it takes to be a homeowner. Working on getting them into homeownership and right now their focus is that corridor there, so that has a significant amount of potential to bring some revitalization to that area.”
Carter says the Housing Improvement Initiative is taking a unique approach to rehabilitation. The group secures private funding to renovate an abandoned house, while applying for grants to offset the cost of rehabilitation. The initiative’s website states it will sell the restored house, placing the proceeds into a revolving fund to be used on the next project.
Carter says the group has a specific target audience in mind.
“They’re really working a lot with the people whose families may have always been renters. They haven’t historically been homeowners,” Carter says. “So, they just haven’t explored what it takes to be a homeowner.”
Carter says the two projects could drastically change the makeup of that neighborhood.